Tropical Crab Salad:
What's Coookin'

Aired on Superstation WGN
Saturday, June 18 and October 22, 2005
Show 217

Chef and author Patrick O'Connell at The Inn in Little Washington, Virginia, crafts a tropical fruit salad with pre-cooked crab. Crab is nutrient-dense with vitamins and minerals and has few calories. Patrick tosses the crab with jalapeño peppers in fermented fish sauce. Then he heaps mangos, naturally low in calories and high in fiber, on a bed of avocados which are rich in oleic acid and help lower cholesterol. The chilled crab is nestled on the top of this 3-layer tropical salad. Pineapple juice, which contains bromelain, an enzyme that reduces inflammation, is mixed with cantaloupe juice and drizzled over the crab cake. Kiwi and fresh cilantro garnish this delightful treat!

Crab salad with mango and avocado
(Serves 4)

Ingredients:

2 cups jumbo lump crabmeat, carefully picked
1 ½  Tablespoons nuoc mam fish sauce (found in Asian markets)
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
1 ½ Tablespoons jalapeno pepper, minced
¼ cup fresh mango, diced ½ cup fresh avocado, halved with the pit removed
1 small cantaloupe
½  fresh pineapple
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
Sugar (to taste)

Preparation:

Puree the melon in a food processor fitted with a metal blade; pour mixture into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Puree pineapple and add it to the melon puree. Tie up chopped cilantro in a 5-inch square of cheesecloth and add sachet to the puree. Add lemon juice, and mix puree thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate at least a half hour or overnight. Before serving, remove the cilantro sachet. Add a pinch of sugar if necessary.

Combine crabmeat, jalapeno, lemon juice and fish sauce in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Fold carefully with a rubber spatula to prevent breaking up crabmeat lumps. Place a ring mold (or a round cookie cutter that is about 2 inches tall and 2½ inches wide) on each of four chilled plates. With a teaspoon, scoop two tablespoons of avocado from the shell and place at the bottom of the mold. Pack it down lightly with the back of the spoon. Place one tablespoon of mango on top of the avocado and press it down gently. Place the final layer of the crabmeat mixture and smooth off the top with the flat side of a knife. Lift the ring mold off carefully. Repeat this process on the remaining three plates. Ladle the fruit puree around the edges of the crab mold, and serve chilled.